NEW YORK CITY — There were plenty of laughs and a few unexpected tears, too, as Tony and Emmy Award winner Nathan Lane received the Monte Cristo Award from Waterford's Eugene O'Neill Theater Center at its annual fundraising gala in New York Monday night.

Actors Matthew Broderick, Brian Dennehy, Marin Ireland, Joe Grifasi and directors Susan Stroman and Harold Prince were among those who turned out for the occasion, honoring the Broadway, TV and film star best known for his wickedly funny performances.

But it was Lane's recent role playing Hickey in O'Neill's five-hour masterpiece, "The Iceman Cometh," that demonstrated his depth of talent, earning him the prestigious honor.

"Nathan can lift one eyebrow and make you laugh and lift the other one and make you cry," says Stroman, who directed Lane and Broderick in the hit musical "The Producers."

"I still find stepping onto a stage with Nathan to be absolutely thrilling," said Broderick, who is currently co-starring with Lane in the Broadway comedy "It's Only A Play." Referring to the O'Neill play, Broderick pointed to Lane's "new chapter of his work, his next step. And I can't wait to see what he does in the years to come."

Dennehy, Lane's co-star in O'Neill's "The Iceman Cometh" and a previous Monte Cristo Award recipient, told the audience: "I will always be grateful to have been a part of it, to be a witness, to one of the greatest theatrical experiences and thrilling performances I have seen."

Lane, who said he was under the weather, fighting a bug for a couple of weeks, came to the podium to accept the award, saying, "Tonight has done wonders for my health."

At first Lane, 59, joked about receiving a few "lifetime achievement" awards recently. "It's a little disconcerting but as Hillary Clinton might say, 'I'm not quite done yet.'

"It's so beautiful, this award," said Lane of the heavy bronze statue. "It's Eugene O'Neill as a child sitting on a rock — contemplating where the nearest liquor store is."

Lane continued to keep the mood bright, referring to a comedy routine earlier in the evening featuring a Muppet-style puppet of the famously dour and dyspeptic playwright, manipulated by Tyler Bunch.

"Somewhere O'Neill is smiling because he loved puppets," said Lane sardonically. "He loved puppets more than he loved [his wife] Carlotta. In fact, his last words were, 'Put on 'Kukla Fran and Ollie.' "

But then things got serious — and unexpectedly emotional.

" 'Iceman' was part of a concerted effort to challenge, inspire and scare myself," said Lane, "and to tap into all the darkness that many journalists and a few therapists have come to see in my work. And frankly [it was] to see if it could change people's perception of me despite what I consider a pretty wide variety of roles: a tall order."

Of his experience with "The Iceman Cometh," which played Chicago two years ago and Brooklyn Academy of Music earlier this year, Lane said, "it has changed my life forever. I am not the same actor I was before I started. O'Neill can do that…He asks you to go to the most difficult of emotional places. He will test you like no other writer, demanding your very best at all times and even then, it might not be enough. He's asking you for the same kind of bravery that he has and to take his hand and jump off that cliff with him. When it works, when you hear the stunning silence of a thousand people listening, thinking and feeling, and you're lost in the complicated..."

And here Lane broke down and was unable to continue for a few moments. When he composed himself enough to continue, he said, "It was the high point of my acting career, for which I will be forever grateful."

Also featured at the tribute was a video clip from Jesse Tyler Ferguson from TV's "Modern Family." (Lane is a frequent guest on the series as wedding planner Pepper Satzman.) Actors Carson Elrod and Patrick Page performed a scene from Noel Coward's "Present Laughter," a play that launched Lane's career in the '80s. Jenni Barber sang a song from "A Funny Thing Happened on the Way to the Forum," (which earned Lane a Tony in the revival); and Robert Creighton, Tim Shew and Jason Simon performed a song from "Guys and Dolls," another of Lane's landmark shows.